Bill Wyman's first album in 9 years, Drive My Car is out August 9.
Drive My Car will be available digitally, on CD and gatefold vinyl. Both CD and digital formats will feature two additional bonus tracks.
As a founding member and rhythm architect of The Rolling Stones, Bill became a household name, revered by fans and peers alike. With a career spanning over six decades, Wyman steps back into the spotlight with a fresh collection of songs showcasing his passion and talent. Five tracks, including the albumās title track are self-penned, a testament to Billās enduring songwriting talent. āItās not something I do every day, but sometimes I just see a guitar in the corner of the room, pick it up to play around, and then something clicks into place,ā he explains.
Bill Wyman - Drive My Car (Official Lyric Video)
Recorded at Wymanās home studio, Drive My Car features a tight-knit group of long-time collaborators, including guitarist Terry Taylor and drummer Paul Beavis. āA bass player and a drummer are a team, youāre the rhythm section, the foundation of the whole thing,ā Bill emphasizes. The album opens with a unique rendition of Bob Dylanās 'Thunder On The Mountain,' combining elements from both Dylan's original and Wanda Jacksonās lively cover. āIāve known Bob since the mid-ā60s," says Bill. "He used to take me and Brian Jones round the Greenwich Village clubs whenever we were in New York. We were very good friends for a while, he was a really nice guy.ā
Another highlight is a cover of Taj Mahalās 'Light Rain.' Bill recounts their long-standing friendship, which began in 1968 when Taj was invited to join The Stones Rock ānā Roll Circus TV special. āHe was fascinated that I was a member of the Royal Horticultural Society ā we bonded over botany!ā he recalls fondly.
Bill Wyman had a busy 2023. The oldest of the Rolling Stones (āThey all talk about the war, but none of them remember it like I do!ā), Bill mined his memories for vivid anecdotes of his wartime childhood and published them in an engrossing book, Billy In The Wars. At the same time, he was planning for the future, recording the songs for Drive My Car.
Reflecting on the albumās overall sound, Bill cites JJ Cale as a major influence. āI think the biggest influence on the album as a whole is JJ Cale, his laidback groove has always appealed to me. Friends Iāve played it to have said things like āit really sounds like youā, and that makes me happy. Iāve never tried to be anyone else - Iām Bill, basically.ā
For more information, please visit billwyman.com.
- 1969 Ampeg SVT Head and 8x10 Cabinet āŗ
- Bass Bench: Tracing the Origins of the Fretless Electric Bass āŗ
- Book Excerpt: "Rolling Stones Gear" āŗ
The Man in Black returns with the unreleased Songwriter album. John Carter Cash tells us the story.
āThe Man Comes Aroundā is a much-played song from the final album Johnny Cash recorded before his death in 2003, American IV: The Man Comes Around. Now, the Man in Black himself has come around again, as the voice and soul of an album he initially cut in 1993, titled Songwriter. It hits the street on June 28.
For fans who know Cash only through his much-loved American Recordings series, this is a very different artistāhealthy, vital, his signature baritone booming, his acoustic playing lively, percussive, and focused. This is the muscular Johnny Cash heard on his career-defining recordings, from his early Sun Records sides like āCry! Cry! Cry!ā and āFolsom Prison Bluesā to āRing of Fireā and āSunday Morninā Cominā Downā to later, less familiar hits like āThe Baronā and āThat Old Wheel.ā In short, classic Cashāthe performer who became an international icon and remains one even 21 years after his death.
I recently visited the Cash Cabin recording studioāa log cabin on the Cash family property in Hendersonville, Tennessee, that was originally built as a sanctuary where Johnny wrote songs and poetryāwith PGās video team of Chris Kies and Perry Bean to talk about Songwriter with John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny and June Carter Cash.
In addition to getting the lowdown on Songwriter from John Carter Cash, he showed us some of the iconic guitarsāincluding original Johnny Cash lead guitarist Luther Perkinās 1953 Fender Esquire and a Martin that was favored by the Man himselfāthat dwell at the busy private studio. Check out this visit.
Available in 4-string and 5-string versions with unique finish options. Each purchase includes a certificate of authenticity signed by Wimbish.
Wimbish collaborated with Spector's USA Custom Shop to create the DW-4 and DW-5 models, echoing the iconic instruments that have been favored heavily throughout his recording and performing career.
These signature basses faithfully replicate Wimbish's originals, down to the smallest details like neck contours and nut widths. Customized EMG pickups, developed in collaboration with Wimbish, capture the distinctive sound that has shaped his monumental musical impact. These models invite players to explore the feel and response that have defined Wimbishās signature style over the years.
Available in 4-string and 5-string versions, each model boasts unique features & finish options. The DW-4 comes in Amber Stain Gloss and Black Stain Gloss options, while the DW-5 offers Dark Blue Stain Gloss and Faded Natural Gloss. Every purchase includes a certificate of authenticity signed by Doug Wimbish.
Wimbish comments, āSpector took the time to get every little nuance right, and that to me is dedication and being thoughtful enough to know āI want to nail it,ā and they did. Iām able to pick these instruments up for the first time and play them like Iāve already had them for years.ā
For more information, please visit spectorbass.com.
Spector: The Doug Wimbish USA Signature Series
Spector Euro 4 LX Doug Wimbish Signature Bass Guitar - Amber Stain Gloss
Euro 4 LX Doug Wimbish, Amber Stn GlsAn uncommon approach to shaping vintage fuzz sounds results in unexpected surprises.
Unique fuzz sounds with mid-ā60s spirit and unconventional tweakability. Beautiful and well-built.
Many players will find basic ā60s fuzz sounds elusive.
$249
Fish Circuits Lunatique
fishcircuits.com
Some things you can take at face value. Consider the Fish Circuits Lunatique fuzz. Fishās choice of āLunatiqueā as a name for this beguiling gated, ring-modulating, octave fuzz is not an empty promise. Many of the savage, spitty, crispy, crumbly sounds that emit from this unit sound like a little berserker wrestling bats in the belfry amid a swarm of bees.
But if tone madness is among Lunatiqueās first orders of business, there are also many tones here that sound merely nuts rather than rabidly bonkers. The four simple controls interact in ways that produce unexpected, unique results, and its voices vary wildly depending on the pickups and guitars you pair it with and where you set your guitarās tone and volume controls. For any player, producer, or recordist interested in fuzzās potential beyond the same old beer-commercial hook or solo, the super-stylish Lunatique is a fun, intriguing alternative that has roots in mid-ā60s tonalities and branches that spread much further.
Ground Control to Sonic Station
The Lunatique looks and feels awesome. The bright blue enclosure evokes the candy-store appeal of old Colorsound pedals, and I love the screen-printed metal control panel. The Lunatique has the comforting heft of vintage electronics, too. But while it might look like a space hog, the Lunatique is only about a 1/4" wider than a Boss pedal and about 30-percent longer. The control array looks simple, and for the most part it is. But unless you are unabashedly spontaneous and cool with mayhem and unknown outcomes, the chaos control demands a bit of study. Itās the key to the pedalās multiple personalities.
Essentially, it enables you to dial in how much octave and ring modulation interacts with the fuzz circuit. As you add more octave, your guitar signal hits the fuzz circuit less hard, which also has the effect of activating the gate a little sooner. That control dynamic and the pedalās response will find many mistaking the chaos control for a bias knob. The chaos pot also controls a low-pass filter, situated after the fuzz circuit, that cuts high frequencies as you turn it clockwise. In a basic sense, the left side of noon has little octave-up content, a heap of treble, and the fuzz is less likely to gate. On the right side of noon, you hear a lot of octave and ring modulation, the treble is less spiky, and the fuzz will gate a bit more. In the many overlapping layers of these effects, there are scores of fuzz colors to explore.
"In the Lunatique, neither gain mode is especially ānice.ā"
A Balm for Option Fatigue
One of my favorite idiosyncrasies in the Lunatiqueās design are the 2-position Fuzz and Body switches which take the place of the variable knobs most builders would use for gain and tone. According to Mike Poisson (the big fish, if you will, behind the Lunatique), this was partly the product of aesthetic concernsāa preference for switches where possible rather than a clutter of knobs. But in the case of the gain switch, the two positions represent specific gain levels that felt and sounded right to Poisson. He found that a rotary knob offered little additional nuance. And personally, I wasnāt left wanting for additional levels other than the two provided here. Itās an interesting, effective solution.
Those familiar with Fish Circuitās Model One overdrive will find parallels with that pedalās āniceā and ānastyā modes. Though in the Lunatique, neither gain mode is especially nice. Both bristle with attitude and a punky, feral mid-ā60s personality. In the lower-gain setting and in the thinner body mode, the fuzz tends to sound ferocious without feeling dominating. Itāll slot easily into a distinctive place in most mixes and offers cool contrast for tasks like doubling bass riffs. Garage-psych nuts that quest for the gnarliest lo-fi fuzz tones from the deepest recesses of the Pebbles compilation LPs will be in heaven too.
In the full-body mode, the pedal is arguably at its most conventional. Single-note lines sound fat and complex, if spitty. Fleet-fingered solos that donāt leave space for the splintered decay artifacts you hear in more spacious contexts, benefit from the sharp, defined attack and less corpulent, overtone-rich sustain, which lends clarity to otherwise filthy melodic leads. Punky power chords also benefit from the tighter decay and can sound powerful, extremely focused, and very much in their own lane in a mix. I would love to record a really nasty garage-hardcore record with this sound.
At most settings, pitch irregularitiesāeven those from finger vibratoāwill cause the signal to fracture and crumble sooner. On the other hand, minimizing vibrato lends many tones an almost synth-like linearity that sounds pretty cool in contexts apart from traditional rock guitar, particularly when you add volume swells. Such sounds can be spooky and alien stuff, particularly with modulation effects. Oh, and it bears keeping in mind that the Lunatique will get loud. Thereās no shortage of volume ceiling here.
The Verdict
As I said at the top, āLunatiqueā is a fair representation of what this fuzz is and does. By no means will it be every playerās bag, and the reader should take my relatively enthused scores with a grain of salt (I like chaos). But players that like the attitude of a Jordan Boss Tone, Maestro FZ-1, or Mosrite Fuzzrite yet are weary of canonical sounds, and who prefer more tunability, more surprises, and more distinctive tones will savor the way the interactive controls for this unique circuit can mutate and recast the mid-ā60s fuzz template. That itās a truly beautiful little pedal, too, only enhances its wild appeal.
PG contributor Tom Butwin highlights 7 preamp options for your acoustic guitar. Wherever youāre looking to plug in your acoustic, these stomps have you covered with a wide range of functionality, sounds, and applications.